The nurse from Detroit was fired for what she said about poor conditions in the hospital during a pandemic coronavirus, as indicated in the new lawsuit.
In the judicial materials, filed Monday, Kenisa Barkai (38 years old) describes his dismissal on 27 March from Sinai-Grace Hospital Detroit Medical Center as a punishment for the fact that in the beginning of the month she expressed concern about the shortage of hospital workers and personal protective equipment, according to the Detroit Free Press.
After that, the hospital began to treat patients with COVID-19, forcing a nurse who worked in the hospital for 11 years, to tell his immediate superiors that she was going to report their concerns to regulators.
Barkai, a single mother from Woodhaven, met with the hospital Director on March 17. At that time she was caring for 7 patients, including 2 with the coronavirus. Barkai argued that the care of patients with coronavirus and without may endanger infecting the COVID-19 patients who received other diagnoses, and to worsen the situation with the lack of personal protective equipment.
Later in the day the nurse placed a 7-second video on Facebook, showing a face mask, a hair cap, gloves and medical clothing that she wore in the hospital. The next day, video of women showed on the news channel Detroit. She was fired after 9 days, indicating the reasons of dismissal of the violation of the rules against social networking. It was stated in the letter of dismissal, which Barkai showed a news publication.
«We’re just trying to fix what was done wrong. I got fired and used as a scapegoat to force my colleagues to shut up,» said Barkai. «We was so hard, and when the pandemic evolved, it became a much more dangerous».
A Detroit Medical Center representative to a request to comment on the situation stated that they do not comment on pending litigation.
